Saturday, September 27, 2008

Why did Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac go bust?

Follow the Money.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Lower tax rates, increase tax income. It works again.


" According to the negative (Obama) view, when Bush's tax cuts took effect, the share of income taxes paid by the wealthiest Americans should have declined. The rich, in this scenario, benefited from the senseless giveaway, putting a greater and greater proportion of the tax burden on the poor. Under the positive view, by contrast, the share of income taxes paid by the wealthiest Americans might increase even when you cut their tax rates, since they will work harder and reduce their efforts to avoid taxes."

http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.28544,filter.all/pub_detail.asp

Of course, somepeople think that the rich should pay less in taxes. If so, they should raise tax rates on the highest income earners- repealing the Bush tax cuts would be one way to do this

Saturday, September 13, 2008

I Am Covered with Glory!

I am getting a T-shirt for correctly guessing that Sarah Palin would be McCain's pick AND that Biden would be Obama's pick.

Yes, I do usually have the right answers. Cassandra has nothing on me.

Monday, September 01, 2008

Sarah Palin

I was resolved to vote for McCain as a sad duty, as better than the alternative. I looked at Senator McCain as a man of integrity, but a man who was not always on my side. I worry about McCain Feingold as legislation intended to shut down political speech. I am concerned about his enthusiasm for extending special status (beyond amnesty, but giving special rights as a reward for their crimes) to illegal aliens.

I know that all Presidents get some things right, and some things wrong. I was convinced that Ronald Reagan's tax cuts of 5% the first year, with 10% the next two years was too slow to have effect in time to avert recession. I was also convinced that Ronald Reagan's amnesty for illegal aliens was a mistake. Still, he was a great president for the things he was able to get right. He was able to convert Jimmy Carter's feckless concern about human rights to a stronger course of arming against the "Evil Empire".

McCain gets an 83% on the American Conservative Union scale. That is far superior to the 8% of Obama, or the 9% of H. Clinton, or the 14% of Biden. Still not so hot compared to the 92% of Duncan Hunter, but a clear difference, and enough to guide a voter like me.

Sarah Palin! What a wonderful lady! In high school she was Sarah-Cuda, the Point Guard who led the team, called plays, and made the winning free throw for her state basketball championship with a broken foot. That alone is more leadership than ever shown by Obama. A hunter, who knows responsibility to the land, and to the animals harvested. As Mayor for 10 years she couldn't put out a nice speech and then run for higher office. She had to meet people where they were, and perform the 'art of the possible' over and over again, and as part of her work she cut the mayor's salary. As a member of the oil and gas commission, she found evidence of corruption and then quit, to have the freedom to report on the corruption of its members. She supports drilling for oil in the US, which will reduce the income of the Arab and Russian terrorist states.

She also worked as a professional fisher, and has experience with the silly regulations associated with that industry. She plead 'no contest' to a charge of using a gill net without the proper permit. She was permitted to use the gill net as a member of a fishing boat crew, but when she took over the boat (another leadership position) she didn't re-register quickly enough. I submit that she has learned how minor details in regulations can be used to enable corruption among enforcement officials.

She ran for Governor without the help of the Republican party and defeated the incumbent Republican governor in the primary.

There is an ethics complaint against her. As governor she fired the head of a police agency. That she had the authority to do so is not in question. The defense of the police agency head seems to be weak: he alleges he was fired because he would not discipline an officer who drove his patrol car drunk, shot a cow moose out of season, and shot his 11 year old son with a taser gun). An officer who does this should not be protected from discipline because he is the Governor's brother in law. I know this is an unusual concept in Alaska where the former governor's daughter replaced him as US Senator. The rest of us understand.

McCain has plenty of National Security credentials. Palin's are minimal, but still more than Biden or Obama. As governor of the only State with two international boundaries, her duty as head of the Alaska National Guard is more than the honorary position associated with, say the National Guard of Arkansas.

I am impressed with Senator McCain's choice. I will, for the first time in my life, contribute to a presidential campaign. Good job John! Great choice!

Update: for more information see following web site.
http://www.audacityofhypocrisy.com/2008/08/30/sarah-palin-vs-barack-obama/

Update again: About half way through her speech, she seemed to get better. What happened, is the teleprompter malfunctioned, and continued scrolling through the applause. It basically ran away from where she was in the speech. So. She. Gave. The. Rest. Of. The. Speech. Without. It. From. Memory.

Way to go Sarah-Cuda! Another winning basket with a broken leg!

Update the third: http://www.overstream.net/view.php?oid=n1ronxelmtin&query=Palin&pt=1&pn=1&pc=1&pu=1&pl=-1&related=search&skip=0

Has a video of the Lion King scene where Scar lays out his plan to murder his brother and betray the pride to the Hyenas, only now we have German voice over with a scheme to lie about Sarah Palin. Very nice match of the lyrics to the character's movements.